Wrong Place For A Branch Campus

December 18, 1992

The University of New Haven recently announced plans to open a branch campus with degree programs "in the Middle Eastern community of Elkana, 12 miles east of Tel Aviv." This is an area, said university President Lawrence J. DeNardis, "where demand for education far outstrips supply." A February opening is hoped for, and an initial student body of 1,000 is planned.

But as educationally sound as the venture might be, it has run up against a rockhard political reality: Elkana is an Israeli settlement located within the West Bank, the territory populated mostly by Palestinian Arabs and under military occupation by Israel. This is not a good place for an American university, in conjunction with Israeli partners, to build a branch campus.

And, because delicate ArabIsraeli peace negotiations are underway, it is a particularly bad time for an American institution to show the flag in disputed territory.

Locating the school in Elkana is contrary to official U.S. policy, which holds that Israeli settlement activity is an obstacle to peace. It may also be contrary to the 4th Geneva Convention and other treaties. Israeli Minister of Education and Culture Shulamit Aloni opposes the move.

It's promised that the school, to be called the Hasharon campus, will be open to all -- students and faculty -- on a nondiscriminatory basis. But redeeming that pledge is problematic. Is it practical to promise equal access to Arab students and staff within an Israeli settlement?

Mr. DeNardis observes that the University of New Haven can't open its branch in Tel Aviv because Israeli universities exercise a veto power over foreignrun educational enterprises within Israel. He believes that locating in the occupied territories does not run afoul of international law, saying the law is unclear. But if the law is not clear, shouldn't Mr. DeNardis be reluctant to jump in? Should an educational institution get involved in a venture of dubious legality?

"We're not there to make a political statement," Mr. DeNardis argues. "We're there to fill an educational need."

No matter how wellintentioned the University of New Haven is, a

branch campus in an Israeli settlement within the occupied territories does make a political statement, one that is damaging to the peace process.

A perhaps harder but better course for Mr. DeNardis would be to try to persuade Israeli authorities that his school can offer something of value within the borders of Israel